The present invention relates to an assembling technique for assembling an assembly product that is constituted by a plurality of parts, and more particularly concerns an assembling technique using a robot.
In an assembling device for automatically assembling an assembly product that is constituted by a plurality of parts by using a robot, a plurality of parts are automatically supplied within a movable range of the robot so that at the time of the parts supply, the robot is stopped; thus, it is possible to eliminate the necessity of exchanging the parts by the human hands.
Moreover, a plurality of robots are fixed onto a single base so as to operate them in cooperation with one another, and a plurality of parts are assembled by using assembling jigs; thus, an attempt has been made to efficiently assemble the parts.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique which only automatically supplies a plurality of parts inside the movable range of a robot, in a case of an assembling device for aiming to produce a small number of many types of products, when switching processes between types of assembly products are frequently carried out, the exchanges of the corresponding assembling tools (robot tools, assembling jigs) also need to be frequently carried out. Here, since the exchanging processes of these assembling tools are carried out by the human hands, the exchanging jobs consume time, and during this time, the assembling device has to be stopped, resulting in a reduction in the rate of operation of the assembling device.
Moreover, this method in which a plurality of robots are fixed onto a single base, in an assembling device for aiming to produce a small number of many types of products, it is difficult to readily deal with changes in the layout of the robots and extra installations of robots following a great degree of switchovers in the types of assembly products.
The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its objective is to provide an assembling technique for efficiently producing a small number of many types of products by using a robot.
An assembling device of the present invention, which successively assembles a plurality of parts by utilizing assembling tools so as to manufacture a predetermined assembly product, is provided with: (a) an assembling section having a robot placed on a predetermined base, (b) a robot controlling means for driving and controlling the robot, (c) a transport means which transports the plurality of parts and the assembling tools from the outside of a movable range of the robot to inside of the movable range as bringing-in objects and also transport a finished assembly product and a used assembling tool from inside of the movable range to the outside of the movable range as taking-out objects, and in this arrangement, the robot control means is provided with (b-1) a tool management control means for allowing the robot to carry out a setting process of the assembling tools that have been brought therein and a returning operation of the used assembling tools to the transport means and (b-2) an assembling control means for allowing the robot to carry out an assembling process of the plurality of parts that have been brought therein and a returning operation of the finished assembly product to the transport means.
With this arrangement, since the exchanging processes of the assembling tools are carried out without depending on the human hands, it is possible to efficiently carry out the manufacturing process of a small number of many types of products.
More specifically, the assembling tools include a robot tool that is detachably attached to a tip of an arm of the robot, and an assembling jig that is placed on a workbench added to the base and that assembles the plurality of parts, and the tool management control means is preferably provided with a robot tool management control means for allowing the robot to attach and detach the robot tool to and from the tip of the arm and a jig management control means for allowing the robot to shift the assembling jig between a predetermined assembling position on the workbench and the above-mentioned transport means.
With this arrangement, it becomes possible to positively supply the robot tools and assembling jigs that are required for the assembling process.
More preferably, a plurality of types of robot tools are transported by the transport means, and the robot tool management control means is provided with a robot-tool transport control means for transporting the plurality of types of the robot tools to a predetermined robot-tool stand-by position on the base by using the robot, and a robot-tool exchange control means for selecting a robot tool to be attached to the tip of the arm among the plurality of types of robot tools so as to exchange a corresponding robot tool, in accordance with each stage of the assembling processes of the assembly product.
With this arrangement, an appropriate robot tool can be selected for each stage of the assembling processes.
More preferably, the transport means is provided with (c-1) a parallel arrangement of a plurality of tray holding sections, each capable of holding the corresponding tray, and (c-2) a transport driving means for shifting each of the plurality of tray holding sections between the inside of the robot movable range and the outside thereof, and each of the bringing-in objects and the taking-out objects is transported by the transport means in a housed state in the tray.
With this arrangement, the application of the trays makes it possible to carry out a superior general-purpose transporting operation.
More preferably, the plurality of tray holding sections are arranged side by side with a pair of a first tray for holding a tray having a predetermined unit width and a second tray for holding a tray having a width several times as large as the unit width.
This arrangement makes it possible to carry out a transporting process that is suitable for the various sizes of the bringing-in objects and taking-out objects.
Preferably, the tray has a first local shape on the outer surface thereof, and each tray holding section has a second local shape that fits into the first local shape so that each tray is positioned onto each tray holding section by the fitting-in state between the first local shape and the second local shape.
With this arrangement, it is possible to position each tray correctly.
More preferably, a chuck, which can pinch each of the plurality of parts, is used as the robot tool, and in a section within an operational range of the robot, from each of the respective bring-in positions of the plurality of parts to the assembling position, each transport path in a single direction for each of the parts, traced by the robot, is allowed to pass through a predetermined common position, and the assembling device is further provided with (d) a parts detection means, placed in a vicinity of the common position, for detecting whether or not the chuck on the robot is pinching any part.
With this arrangement, it is possible to readily detect whether or not the chuck is pinching any part.
Moreover, the present invention, which relates to an assembling device for fabricating an assembly product by successively assembling a plurality of parts, also concerns an assembling device which is provided with (a) a plurality of robot sections, each constituted by a robot and a base having a rectangular flat face on which the robot is placed, that are aligned with sides of the rectangular shape facing each other, and (b) a workbench aligned between the plurality of robot sections, with each of the movable ranges of robots of respective robot sections is allowed to cover at least one portion of each of the workbench adjacent to the robot section.
In this arrangement, since the layout of the robots is readily changed in response to a changeover between the types of assembly products, it is possible to efficiently produce a small number of products in many types.
More preferably, among the robot sections, respective robots on the adjacent two robot sections are allowed to have different combinations in the degree of freedom in operation.
This arrangement makes it possible to increase variations in the assembling job made by the robots.
Moreover, the present invention relates to a tray system used in an assembling device, which is provided with (a) a group of tray main bodies, and (b) a group of holding members, each of which has a predetermined upper surface recessed section that is allowed to fit to the shape of an object to be housed, and is housed in the tray main body so as to hold the object to be housed while positioning it in the upper surface recessed section. Here, the group of the tray main bodies include (a-1) tray main bodies of a single size having a predetermined unit housing width and (a-2) tray main bodies of a double size having double the unit housing width, and the group of the holding members include (b-1) a set of holding members of a single size, each of which is alone fitted to the inside of the tray main body of the single size and housed therein, while any desired one of pairs of the holding members of the single size is housed inside the tray main body of the double size, and (b-2) holding members of a double size, each of which is alone fitted to the inside of the tray main body of the double size. Here, in the case when any desired one of the pairs of the holding members of the single size are housed in the tray main body of the double size, the tray main body and the desired one of the pairs of the holding members of the single size are positionally fitted to each other in the virtually same manner as in the case when the holding member of the double size is alone housed therein.
With this arrangement, the holding member of the single size is housed not only in the tray main body of the single size, but also in the tray main body of the double size, in a properly positioned state; thus, it is possible to commonly use the holding members of the single size.
Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a design assisting device which is used for designing an operation of an assembling device that manufactures a predetermined assembly product by successively assembling a plurality of parts by using a plurality of robots, and the design assisting device is provided with a data base in which a plurality of operation modules that classify and define handling operations of respective robots for each part are registered, an operation input means for specifying the robot to be used for each process and for selecting an operation module to be used for each process among a collection of operation modules registered in the data base, an execution timing calculation means for calculating the execution timing of an operation module selected for each assembling process in accordance with the execution sequence of the respective processes with respect to the plurality of robots, and a display control means for graphically displaying the sequence of execution timing on a predetermined display means along the time axis with respect to each of the robots.
With this arrangement, it is possible to easily input the operation for each assembling process, and also to visually confirm the execution timing of each process; therefore, it becomes possible to effectively assist the designing process for the production of a small number of products in many types.
More preferably, the device is further provided with a stand-by time calculation means for calculating a time zone during which each robot is maintained in a stand-by state in order to prevent interference with a previous process in the execution timing for respective operation modules, and a stand-by time display controlling means for graphically displaying the stand-by time zones in a manner distinguished from other time zones.
Thus, it becomes possible to positively confirm the time zone during which the robot needs to be maintained in a stand-by state.